Similar to the process of opening a matryoshka doll where dolls nested inside each other are discovered, this narrative technique orders the story starting from an outer layer and ending in the innermost one: a layer-by-layer zoom in.

About the technique:

• Each layer is connected to the surrounding layers by a relationship of depth or detail.
• The middle layers have to be interesting on their own.
• The last layer is more interesting than the rest to reward the reader for reaching the end.
  

Film example

The following video is part of the opening of Hugo, a movie released in 2011:

Layers of the previous scene:

• Paris
• Trains arriving at the train station
• The platform of the train station
• The interior of the train station
• The train station clock
• Reward: A child inside the clock.
  

Literary example

On the sand of the beach were the bones of a whale. Entering through the baleen curtain above the open jaw and following the shadow formed by the spine of the body was halfway the still beating heart that resisted death: the strength of the sea still born from within.

Layers of the previous text:

• The beach
• A whale skeleton
• The mouth of the whale skeleton
• The spine of the whale skeleton
• Reward: The whale's heart still beating.